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Why is there no GPS based collision avoidance system? If the system finds two trains near each other headed in the same direction, it should send a warning starting at 25 miles and then halt the trains when 10 miles apart. And they need to have a rail management system to provide a snapshot of age and condition for the entire network.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to India on September 14 will reflect the fast-changing equations in the Asia-Pacific after Doklam.

Abe will be in the country for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project, also called the bullet train project. After the 73-day standoff at the Sikkim border, India is veering away from China and towards Japan in several fields. This shift can be noticed in the bullet train projects as Japan can upstage China in winning other projects in India, which China is also eyeing.

China and Japan have been competing to bag high-speed rail contracts in the region. China beat Japan last year to bag a project in Indonesia. Both are locked in a contest for the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur high-speed rail. Thailand has signed two contracts with Chinese state enterprises for a high-speed rail project.

China and Japan will be battling for a Thailand-Malaysia high-speed railway link too.

Japanese trains are considered safer but costlier while China is considered to have better expertise in building in challenging conditions.

According to a Bloomberg report, Japan’s sales pitch revolves around quality: its network boasts a record of zero fatal accidents in more than half-century of history. Japanese trains also require low lower repair expenses which offset initial higher costs.

While Japan has bagged the first bullet train project for Mumbai-Ahmedabad route, China is eyeing other proposed routes. It is carrying out feasibility studies for Chennai-New Delhi and New Delhi-Mumbai routes.

Doklam conflict may be over but it has changed India-China ties. India will remain wary of China for a long time. That's why Japan can beat China in India for bullet train projects. While earlier India would have chosen between China and Japan after considering all the aspects such as price, efficiency and maintenance costs carefully, now it can lean towards Japan.

Since India and Japan are coming closer in maritime trade and military cooperation, India will prefer Japan to China in other deals too. So, Doklam may cost China a few mega train projects in India.

Indian projects will help Japan stay afloat in the train diplomacy as China is beating it in several other countries. An India-Japan axis is emerging in the Asia-Pacific. Both Both the countries have plans to counter China's ambitious One Belt One Road project and are also willing to cooperate on investing in Africa where China has major interests. If India-Japan axis grows stronger, Chinese companies might have to face the heat in other countries in the region where China is easily bagging infrastructure deals now.

Abe's visit to India right after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's China visit is telling in itself.

Vivek K wrote:Why is there no GPS based collision avoidance system? If the system finds two trains near each other headed in the same direction, it should send a warning starting at 25 miles and then halt the trains when 10 miles apart. And they need to have a rail management system to provide a snapshot of age and condition for the entire network.

Mumbai Locals have this system I think for quite a few years now, developed by Konkan Railways, IIRC...? Remember to have seen a demo of it where the engineer who made it stood between two trains to show the effective anti-collision system.

^^ You are referring to the ACD suraksha kavach developed by KR. It is operational in KR and NFR (Siliguri to Guwahati, iirc). It is effective, but in single line stretches only, given the accuracy of GPS (it can't tell which track has the running train). There was a plan to expand its deployment to other routes, but I don't know the current status. We must remember that single line trunk routes are being doubled rapidly, so the ACD may not see a wide deployment.

Mumbai local trains use a train protection warning system developed by Siemens. It's operational throughout the suburban network. SR was deploying it or a similar system in Chennai, not sure what's the current status is.

Salient Point : The total cost of this rail line is estimated to be around $17 billion, with over 80% of it coming from Japan in the form of an extremely friendly loan -- which is highlighted by a 0.1% interest rate over a 50-year repayment cycle that's topped off with a 15-year grace period.

Along with financing the bulk of the project and providing the know-how, Japan, reportedly, also intends to transfer their HSR technology to India. While the first set of rolling stock will come from Japan, the ones following are slated to be manufactured in India, positioning the economic giant of South Asia as a potential developer of HSR technology.

This is regarding transfer of confirmed rail ticket. Very good initiative by our Railway Minister Sri Piyush Goyal

1. A confirmed railway ticket can be transferred to your blood relations.

2. If a person is holding a confirmed ticket and is unable to travel, then the ticket can be transferred to his / her family members including father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, husband or wife.

3. For transfer of ticket, an application must be submitted atleast 24 hours in advance of the scheduled departure of the train to chief reservation supervisor with ID proof.

In looking for business opportunities in the MAHSR project, one should not miss the woods for the trees. It is the cornerstone of a new era of strategic engagement between Japan and India. Both nations have come to recognise that in the backdrop of emerging Asian geopolitics and geo-economics, their partnership would not only benefit both countries but also create a more stable, prosperous and peaceful Asia.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said he would meet Railways Minister Piyush Goyal to discuss the future of a proposed diesel engine factory in Bihar's Chhapra. The project -- billed as the country's biggest Make in India project -- may slip out of Bihar's grasp, reports say, with the railway ministry toying with the idea of shelving the 3000-crore initiative that's expected to roll out by October 2018.

The ministry is of the view that since electrification of railway tracks going ahead full steam, investment in diesel engines would not pay off in the coming years, reports said. Mr Kumar, who has handled the railways portfolio twice, disagrees.

I always thought IR will maintain a certain percentage of their rolling stock powered by diesel locos for strategic purposes. But it seems like the thinking in GoI has changed. Apparently, going forward its gonna be all electric locomotion! And they have asked GE to reconsider manufacturing electric locomotives in their upcoming plants instead of diesel engines. IMHO...very poor move. The deal for GE locos were signed in 2015 and 3 years later, GoI changes it mind? Shows inconsistency in ability to plan and definitely will dent India's image (one can argue that India is an significant & important market for global players to ignore and they will have to put up with such decisions). Although GE has designed electric locomotives in the past, they haven't brought out a new product in the last 50 years I think. It is simply not their forte.

NEW DELHI: Indian Railways has offered General Electric an option to manufacture electric locomotives at its upcoming factory in Marhowrah in Bihar instead of diesel engines since it no longer envisages requirement for diesel engines.

The government on Thursday told GE at a meeting of railways minister Piyush Goyal with the top brass of the American conglomerate that the railways will not require diesel locomotives in the future since it is switching fully to electric traction.

However, the government doesn’t want GE to lose any investment and so it has offered several options to the company, a senior railways ministry official said. These include manufacturing electric engines, locomotive maintenance shed or any other related facility, with the railways offering an assured contract, he said. “We don’t want to hamper the investment environment in the country. We have offered GE various options. They will work with our officials to find out the right solution. Even if they want to manufacture electric locos with some other company in a joint venture, they will be welcome to do so,” the official said.

In 2015, the railways had awarded the contract to GE to set up the factory on railways’ land. The railways would have procured 1,000 engines worth Rs 14,600 crore in 10 years from the company. The railways was offering 200 acres land as its equity in the project, which was touted as the biggest foreign direct investment in India’s rail sector.

Railways stands to save at least Rs 50,000 crore in fuel bill in the next 10 years if it runs only electric trains on its entire network, along with cutting its carbon footprint. The railways has already signed an agreement with Alstom to manufacture electric locomotives in Madhepura in Bihar. “We will procure from Alstom as per our commitment. Since we will have a 100 per cent electrified network in a few years, the demand for electric locos will also go up. Those additional engines can be procured from GE. They won’t lose any money,” the official said.

Zyndaji, what you say is absolutely true. Sudden change of decision for diesel to electric indicates scope for improvement in planning. On the other hand, the change could also be a result of the climate change commitments which occurred in April Paris accord 2016.

Also the falling prices of electricity from all sources: solar -> because of falling panel prices and improving tech.wind -> No more feed-in-tariff, plus the advent or 4 - 8 MW rated turbines that work at low / medium wind speedscoal -> increased domestic production and drop in importhydro -> (already the cheapest source) increased pace of project completion

I say better late than never. I am glad to see the move from diesel to electric.

Depends on how the contract is drafted. Generally the GOI as well as PSU contracts are extremely one sided in favour of the client. This is how the govt/psu clients are able to preempt any successful litigation from contractors.

GE can still sue Indian Railways but will it be able to put a winning case. Only if the contract contains clauses that are favourable to GE in case of sudden termination.

Depends on how the contract is drafted. Generally the GOI as well as PSU contracts are extremely one sided in favour of the client. This is how the govt/psu clients are able to preempt any successful litigation from contractors.

GE can still sue Indian Railways but will it be able to put a winning case. Only if the contract contains clauses that are favourable to GE in case of sudden termination.

If I remember correctly, these are setup as 50/50 (or is it 51/49) JVs with the cost of land and factory determined as the equity of the Indian partner. Full ToT to the JV is required in exchange for assured orders.

I think the hitch will be in negotiating the price of the new electric locos and the level of ToT involved.

AGRA: Snaking through the country, several 'Pythons' and 'Anacondas' are helping deliver a small revolution for the railways.

Looking to optimise existing infrastructure to boost freight operations as well as ease congestion on the tracks, the transporter is employing trains over 1.4 kilometres long with as many as 118 wagons.

North Central Railways' 'Python', Western Railways' 'Anaconda', Central Railways' 'Maruti' and other long-haul trains are not only helping deliver goods quicker, but are also efficient and cost-effective, said officials.

Each of these trains is made up of two rakes (59 wagons in each), two brake vans and two to three locomotives, and travels nonstop to its destinations.

Long-haul trains were identified as a focus area in the railways' passenger and freight sector action plan for 2017-18, "to meet freight traffic demands requiring movement across already congested sections and to reduce the per-unit cost of operation..." Sanchit Tyagi, divisional commercial manager, Agra division said, "The concept of long-haul trains was mooted some years ago as a pilot project to halve the time required for the journey of two trains, and increase the goods trains operation within the current infrastructure, which is heavily congested."

An average of 15 to 25 such trains run across the country every day. The target is to increase the number to 50 by the end of March 2018, said officials.

These trains require longer loop lines, a railway branch line that leaves the main line and rejoins it after a short distance, where trains wait while others can pass. Three such long loop lines have been commissioned, and a total of 109 have been sanctioned across India.

Tyagi added, "Almost every second day, we make a long-haul train out of empty wagons (used to ferry coal) near Baad station (next to Mathura). We have a maximum of 45 minutes for this... Since the trains look like long snakes, they are named after the reptiles."

On December 15, 2014, Southern Railways created a record by operating a longhaul freight train for the first time. The total weight of the formation was 3,000 tonnes.

Railways to get Rs6,000 crore loan from Japan for 200 electric locomotives for freight corridor

New Delhi: Japanese government’s official lending arm Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on Friday said it will extend a Rs6,000 crore loan to India for procuring 200 electric locomotives for Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC).

“Japan International Cooperation Agency signed an agreement with the government of India to provide official development assistance (ODA) loan of 108,456 million Japanese yen (approximately Rs6,000 crores) for procurement of 200 electric locomotives for the WDFC Project,” JICA said in a statement.

“The ODA loan’s conditions are very concessional, i.e. JPY LIBOR + 10 basis points interest rate (Japanese yen London inter-bank offered rate + 0.1%) for project activities and 30 years of repayment period (including 10 years of grace period),” according to the statement.

JICA is currently supporting the construction of civil and track works, electrification, including signalling and telecommunication system for WDFC between Delhi and Mumbai.

JICA-assisted WDFC project aims to cope with the increase of freight transport demand in India, thereby promoting comprehensive regional economic development along the freight corridor, JICA said. Inter-modal logistic handling systems are expected to improve and modernise through WDFC.

The new locomotives together with the dedicated railways, will enhance current freight capacity, catering increase in container traffic between the international container ports on the western coast and inland demand areas, it said.

The loan will also support the construction of a depot at Rewari, Haryana, for maintenance of the locomotives. The supplier of the locomotives is also expected to provide transfer of technology for indigenisation.

Speaking on the occasion, Sakamoto said, “JICA is fully committed towards the construction and completion of this initial logistical infrastructure of the DMIC (Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor). The DFC project will enhance freight capacity, making it a revolution for the industrial corridor”.

“JICA will continue to play an important role in the development of WDFC and will provide necessary assistance in the near future as well,” he added.

The ministry of railways would be responsible for procurement and maintenance of these electric locomotives, while Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp. of India Ltd (DFCCIL) would be responsible for operating them, the statement said.

JICA has so far extended concessional ODA loans of ¥443 billion (approximately Rs26,000 crore) for development of the western DFC project in India.

The project will focus on constructing about 1,500 kms track of the western corridor between Delhi and Mumbai, connecting major cities in the Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana, as well as introducing new electric locomotives capable of high-speed, high-capacity transportation.

This has led to lower unit costs as a result of the development of multiple competitive local sources for construction - including earthworks, bridges, tunnels and rolling stock - that adopted mechanisation in construction and manufacturing. Furthermore, large volumes and the ability to amortise capital investment in high-cost construction equipment across a number of projects also helped to reduce costs.

Other factors include a relatively low cost of land acquisition and resettlement, localisation of the design and manufacture of goods and components as well as the standardisation of designs for embankments, track, viaducts, electrification, signalling and telecommunication systems. For example, the slab track manufacturing process was imported from Germany but the cost of the Chinese-made product is about a third lower than the German product as a result of large volumes and lower labour costs. The technology developed for construction of tunnels not only resulted in a low unit cost but also enabled tunnels to be constructed at a rate of 5-10m per day. High-speed tunnel construction costs in China are about $US 10-15m/km, a fraction of that in other countries. Tunnel costs are heavily influenced by geology and labour costs and, in the case of China, the latter has certainly helped to keep costs down.

Here is the deal for India., extend the HSR from Mumbai-Ahmedabad completely all over India. In some case replace the existing rail infrastructure. This expansion will amortize capital investment.

On the land acquisition cost., well I will not surprised if China's land acquisition cost is either zero or negative.

There is no land 'acquisition cost' as such in China. All land - yes all of Chinese territory - is owned by the government, and leased out to private parties. That is a major CPC revenue stream, since everyone pays a lease for any land they wish to develop. Leases range from 20-99 years. The renewal fee upon the end of the lease may be as much as 50% of the value of the property. There is no Chinese national law about this, and local municipalities assess whatever they can impose.

Siemens and Alsthom have merged their Rail business today to counter Chinese moves in rail.

Since GE doesnt manufacture electric engines only hope they can do is tie up with bombardier for marhowra plant.if our national interest say diesel is bad for rail, no point in making engines here irrespective of what GE is saying.

n the projects supported by the World Bank, the estimated cost of viaducts in China ranges from Yuan 57m to Yuan 73m/km for a double-track line. Such costs are kept low through standardisation of the design and manufacturing process for casting and laying bridge beams on viaducts. The span of viaduct beams has been standardised at 24m and 32m. Bridge beams are cast in temporary facilities along the route of the line and transported over a distance up to 8km by a special beam carrier vehicle. The beams are then launched over the viaduct columns by specially-designed equipment. The cost of a 32m-bridge beam ranges from Yuan 800,000 to Yuan 1m.

The machine in question: SLJ 900 / 32 (I guess for a 32 m span) watch video 1 at 2:32 for how a new span is picked up an taken for laying. Fantastic foresight. Very admirable

arvin wrote:Siemens and Alsthom have merged their Rail business today to counter Chinese moves in rail.

Since GE doesnt manufacture electric engines only hope they can do is tie up with bombardier for marhowra plant.if our national interest say diesel is bad for rail, no point in making engines here irrespective of what GE is saying.

Even better leverage Bombardier rail technology in India by buying the rail division ? The Chinese have been strategic in this method of stepping in and buying assets that are distressed with a long term view of leveraging technology and markets.

Two years after signing an agreement with General Electric Co. for a local diesel-engine factory, India said it is in talks to alter the contract as it favors electric locomotives.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said the government is negotiating ways to tweak the agreement as the nation shifts to less-polluting modes of transportation. The two sides have considered options including exports of some of the engines and making them more fuel efficient to reduce pollution. The US company doesn’t make electric locomotives.

“Electrification of railway tracks is in the interest of the people of India,” Goyal told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday. “Can we look at opportunities going forward, where we can meet the twin objectives of reducing pollution, saving costs and making sure that the contract continues to serve the people of India in the best interest of the nation?”

India and GE signed the agreement in 2015 to establish the factory in Bihar state to build 1,000 diesel locomotives for Indian Railway. In a statement on Tuesday, the Boston-based company said if Indian officials walked away from the deal, it will damage efforts to create jobs and altering it will “undermine one of the most promising infrastructure projects in the country.” India may also be on the hook for “substantial fees associated with this project,” GE said.

Allaying concerns the deal is in jeopardy, Goyal said the factory is progressing as per plans and signaled there’s no plan to review the contract. His comments come a day after GE Vice Chairman John Rice’s scheduled meetings with Indian officials on Wednesday.